Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/299

 remedy against sin  is  to  say  frequently  within  yourself,  “God beholds  me."  There  needs  no  more  to  restrain  you  in  the  greatest violence  of  temptation.]

“ All things are  clear  and  open  to  his  eyes." — Heb.  vi.

“ If you be  determined  to  commit  sin,  seek  first  a place  where God  will  not  see  you,  and  then  do  what  you  please." — St.  Austin.

1 . The affair  of  salvation  is,  properly  speaking,  the only business  of  man; every  other  concern,  when compared with  it,  should  be  accounted  as  nothing. The enterprises  of  kings,  their  negotiations,  etc.,  are as amusements  and  the  triflings  of  children. The important and  the  only  affair,  therefore,  is  to  serve God, and  thereby  save  our  souls: the  whole  good, the whole  perfection  of  man  consists  in  this. It would be  irrational,  and  therefore  degrading  to  man, to neglect  an  affair  whose  consequences  are  so  great, whose success  is  so  uncertain,  and  whose  loss  is irreparable. What blindness ! what folly ! to think only of  living,  and  not  to  think  of  living  \yell! to apply so  much  time  to  make  our  fortune,  and  so little  to  the  saving  of  our  souls! “ What doth  it avail  a man  to  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his soul?”

2. All  creatures  are  made  but  for  our  salvation — they become  useless  when  not  employed  for  that great end: so  that  from  the  moment  a man  ceases to labour  for  his  salvation,  the  sun  also  should cease to  shine,  the  planets  should  stop  in  their course, the  earth  should  no  longer  support  him,  the angels should  abandon  him; he  should  fall  back  into his original  nothing. He is  unworthy  of  life  when he liveth  not  for  God.

3. However,  the  greater  part  of  mankind  think less of  saving  themselves  than  of  anything  else. Every other  business  is  carefully  attended  to,  except